Born Subversive

About the Book

Born Subversive is the memoir of Nadejda Marques, a woman born in the midst of social upheaval, violence and transformation in Brazil. In 1973, when she is just nine months old, her father is kidnapped, tortured and murdered by the military regime that seized power in Brazil in 1964. Her mother then flees to Chile alone. A friend takes the infant Nadejda separately to Santiago, Chile where the three meet just days before the military coup d'état there led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet in September 1973. Nadejda and her mother now must flee Pinochet's henchmen. They become refugees setting off on a journey that takes them to Sweden, Russia, Cuba, Panama and, finally, back to Brazil. Later, Nadejda continues her own journey, marrying an American human rights activist in Brazil, working in Angola and settling eventually, in Massachusetts.

Born Subversive follows the life of Nadejda Marques through three decades of profound change. In so doing, the book takes the reader on a journey that is extremely personal, moving and political. The storyline weaves through a Latin America of unbounded democratic promise and equally profound disappointment. In seeking to help her daughter, Mara, to understand her identity and history, Nadejda comes to appreciate fully her own. That identity is one marked by the violence and unrest of Latin America over the past several decades, but also by strength, perseverance, motherhood and love.

About the Author

Nadejda Marques was born in Recife, Brazil and raised in Latin America. Before her third birthday, she had survived two military coups d'état,in Brazil and Chile. From 1998 to 2002, Nadejda served as translator and special correspondent with The Washington Post in Brazil. In 1999, she helped create a Brazilian human rights organization, Justiça Global (or Global Justice), dedicated to documenting and denouncing abuses and promoting respect for human rights in Brazil. Since 2003, Nadejda has also worked with human rights organizations working in Angola. Nadejda has written and translated several human rights reports including: Unfinished Democracy: Media and Political Freedoms in Angola (author, Human Rights Watch, 2004); Struggling Through Peace: Return and Resettlement in Angola (author, Human Rights Watch, 2003); Behind Bars in Brazil (translator, Human Rights Watch, 1998); Police Brutality in Brazil (translator, Human Rights Watch, 1997). Nadejda lives with her family in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she teaches Latin American studies and languages. In the past several years, she has taught courses on Portuguese, Spanish, Brazilian Civilization, Native Peoples of South America and Latin America through film at Bentley College, Boston University, Harvard University, and the University of Massachusetts in Boston.